The latest ISAF World Rankings for all of the Olympic Classes were released yesterday, and revealed that British sailor, Paul Goodison tops the Laser world rankings.

Twenty-two of Goodson’s team mates are in the top twenty in their class and thirteen of those in the top ten.

Paul Goodison (Rotherham) tops the Laser ladder in front of five times world champion and Olympic gold and silver medallist, Robert Scheidt of Brazil. Counting numerous wins at grade one events this year sees Goodison make the jump from number two into the top spot.

Fellow team GBR Laser sailor Ed Wright (Warwickshire), has made a good start to his year, finishing runner up at Spa regatta behind Scheidt, he has reaped the rewards and is ranked in ninth place in the world.

After wins at Spa regatta and Kiel week, Mistral sailor Nick Dempsey (Dorset) maintains his number two spot in the rankings, with team mate Dom Tidey (Essex) in fifth place.

Women’s Mistral sailor Natasha Sturges (Devon) has made the jump into the top ten, success at Spa and Kiel has seen her move from twelfth place to nine.

Success at the 49er worlds for team GBR has reinforced their position in the world rankings, with Paul Brotherton/Mark Asquith (both from Hampshire) leading the charge in fifth place, in front of Alister Richardson (Dorset)/Pete Greenhalgh (Hampshire) in eighth, and Chris Draper/Simon Hiscocks (both from Hampshire) in ninth place.

The Tornado class also sees three team GBR boats in the top ten, Hugh Styles (Kent)/Adam May (Avon) maintain their position as number three in the world, Leigh McMillan (Isle of Wight)/Mark Bulkeley (Essex) have jumped from tenth to eighth position and Rob Wilson (Middlesex)/Will Howden (Hampshire) are ninth. Steve Lovegrove/Martin Sellars (both from Hampshire) fall outside the top ten but have still embedded themselves within the top twenty, and are ranked seventeenth.

Other sailors that are proving their strength in the Olympic classes and ranked within the top ten are Nick Rogers (Hampshire)/Joe Glanfield (Devon) who are sixth in the rankings in the 470 class and Andrew Simpson (Surrey) who is ranked fifth in the Finn class.

A number of team GBR sailors have secured their places within the top twenty, such as women’s Mistral sailor, Bryony Shaw (Dorset), who moves up from twentieth to eighteenth. In the 470 class, Christina Bassadone/Katherine Hopson (both from Hampshire) jump from nineteenth to twelfth, one place in front of fellow 470 sailors Josie Gibson (Norfolk)/Saskia Clark (Essex), and in the men’s rankings, Graham Vials/Dan Newman (both from Hampshire) are just out of the top ten and ranked eleventh.

In the newly introduced Yngling class, Nicole Johnson (Middlesex), sailing with Jane Norris (Middlesex) and Jo Line (Bristol), was formerly ranked at number seventeen, but has improved on that and comes in at number eleven, with Olympic medallist Shirley Robertson (Isle of Wight), sailing with Inga Leask (Hampshire) and Sarah Ayton (Dorset), ranked fifteenth in the World.

Olympic Champion Iain Percy (Hampshire), sailing with Steve Mitchell (Hampshire), made the transition from the single-handed Finn to the two man Star just over a year ago and has already, in a short space of time, established himself as one of the top twenty Star sailors in the world, a regatta win at Spa, saw him jump from twentieth to eighteenth.

The success of team GBR within the world rankings confirms the progress that the RYA World Class Performance Programme, funded through UK Sport, is making.

RYA Olympic Manager Stephen Park commented, “while acknowledging the limitations of the world ranking system (time delay and number of events required to score), I am very pleased that team GBR sailors are still regularly improving, with the number of sailors ranked within the top ten in the world climbing from seven to thirteen, this is clearly a great achievement.”

The next issue of the rankings will be released on 31 July 2002 following the Yngling World Championship in Switzerland and Travemunde Woche in Germany. The full ISAF World Ranking can be viewed at http://www.sailing.org/rankings/